Data published by CityAM gives the following picture for November (see here and here):

Total consumer spend up 1.1% year on year

Driven by 4.1% increase in online spend – most notably on Black Friday

Whilst the High Street fell by 1.5%

Most growth is in categories which give benefits at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (hotels, bars, restaurants, cinema, theatre, clothing and footwear) – although education dropped

Trends in ad spend mirror this picture – online is up and forecast to surpass TV spend in 2018 (online video is increasingly used to communicate brand messages in a way that was previously only possible on TV)

Mobile ad spend is also forecast to surpass desktop ad spend in 2018

All of this supports our strategy of investing in ecommerce and marketplace companies building products people love.